A portion of the Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario is closed because there is a man out there without shoes and without a canoe. Authorities aren’t giving us much information but they are looking for him and they want to be the ones who find him, hence the reason for closing an area near Ely, Minnesota.

He is a 26-year old named Aaron King and they are calling him an “Extreme Survivalist.” He had been spending time in Ely, Minnesota. Here’s an article with more information about the story.

FROM/DE: Rainy River District Detachment DATE: July 29, 2015

OPP SEEK PUBLIC ASSISTANCE

(FORT FRANCES, ON) – On July 24, 2015 members of the Rainy River District Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) received a call from a member of the public concerned for the wellbeing of a male he encountered in the Brent Lake area of Quetico Provincial Park.

Police have identified the male as Aaron Nathaniel KING of no fixed address. King was last seen on July 27, 2015 in the Brent Lake area.

KING is described as Caucasian, 26 years old, 5’10”, 160 lbs;
He has light brown hair and a scruffy beard;
He is believed to be wearing a green long sleeve shirt, olive colored pants and shoes.

OPP Rainy River District District Detachment request that any member of the public with information concerning Aaron KING or his whereabouts is urged to contact the Provincial Communication Centre at 1-807-683-42001-807-683-4200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

Contact: Constable Guy Beaudry
Telephone-807 274-7777

NOTICE in QUETICO PROVINCIAL PARK 29 July 2015
By the authority of Section 8 (1) (c) of Ontario Regulation 347/07 made under
the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006, the lakes listed
below are closed to the public.
 Brent Lake
 Darkwater Lake (also known as Darky Lake)
 Darkwater River between Brent and Darkwater Lakes
 William Lake
 Conmee Lake
 Suzannette Lake
 McIntyre Lake
 Scarlett Lake
 Cone Lake
 Un-named lakes south of Brent Lake en route to McIntyre Lake
Travel on these lakes and camping/occupying land on the shores of these lakes
is prohibited.
A person of concern has been spotted in the areas of Brent Lake and Crooked
Lake in Quetico Provincial Park. This person is male, Caucasian, with
scraggly red-blonde hair and a beard. He may not be wearing shoes and is
believed to not have a canoe. If visitors see a man matching this description,
please stay clear and do not engage him. Visitors should note the time and
location of their sighting and report it to the Ontario Provincial Police at 1 -807-683-4200 and to a Park Staff Member.

Call me a tree hugger if you like but I love trees, the more the better. Lots of trees that make up a forest provide places for wildlife to live and tree huggers to play. I always knew forests were great and now I have another reason to love them.
DNR Question of the week

Q: How do forests contribute to clean water?

A: Forests are natural water filters. Rain clings to the leaves and bark of trees, slowing the movement of rain to the ground. The slower moving rain picks up less sediment when it hits the soil. Additionally, forest soils contain large pore spaces that trap sediments and pollutants. As a result, rainwater that leaves a forest to recharge groundwater or flow into lakes and rivers is clean.

Keeping managed forests on the landscape is one of the best ways to protect drinking water and can reduce the cost of water treatment by up to 65 percent when compared to paved or barren land. For more information, visit: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/forestry/cleanwater.pdf.

It would be really neat to see a blue moon that is actually the color blue. According to SpaceWeather there is a chance we might just see one this month. Our first full moon of the month of July was on July 2nd and our second or blue moon will be on July 31st. A blue moon is just the second full moon of a specific month. However, sometimes due to ash from volcanoes or wildfires(like we’re experiencing in the western United States) the moon appears blue because the ash filters out the other colors. You can read all about it below and if you want a front row seat to moon and star viewing then come on up to the Gunflint Trail where lack of artificial light makes it one of the best places for stargazing.

WILL THE MOON REALLY TURN BLUE? When someone says “Once in a Blue Moon,” you know what they mean: rare, seldom, even absurd. This year it means “the end of July.” For the second time this month, the Moon is about to become full. There was one full Moon on July 2nd, and now another is coming on July 31st. According to modern folklore, the second full Moon in a calendar month is “blue.” Strange but true: Sometimes the Moon really turns blue. Scroll past the waxing full Moon, photographed on July 25th by Giuseppe Petricca of Pisa, Italy, for more information:

The blue areas in the color-enhanced image (right) are caused by titanium in lunar soil. [more]

A truly-blue Moon usually requires a volcanic eruption. Back in 1883, for example, people saw blue moons almost every night after the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa exploded with the force of a 100-megaton nuclear bomb. Plumes of ash rose to the very top of Earth’s atmosphere, and the Moon became an azure-colored disk.

Krakatoa’s ash was the reason. Some of the plumes were filled with particles 1 micron wide, about the same as the wavelength of red light. Particles of this special size strongly scatter red light, while allowing blue light to pass through. Krakatoa’s clouds thus acted like a blue filter. People also saw blue-colored Moons in 1983 after the eruption of the El Chichon volcano in Mexico. And there are reports of blue Moons caused by Mt. St. Helens in 1980 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

Forest fires can do the same trick. A famous example is the giant muskeg fire of Sept. 1953 in Alberta, Canada. Clouds of smoke containing micron-sized oil droplets produced lavender suns and blue Moons all the way from North America to England. At this time of year, summer wildfires often produce smoke with an abundance of micron-sized particles–just the right size to turn the Moon truly blue. Sky watchers in western parts of the USA and Canada, where wildfires are in progress, could experience this phenomenon.

A night in the Boundary Waters is too much for some people. A 7-day summer canoe trip feels like an eternity to most kids. Most people never even think about winter camping yet two Minnesota adventurers are going to spend an entire year in the BWCA.

Amy and Dave Freeman of Wilderness Classroom Organization are embarking on their trip this September. They plan to paddle during the liquid months and use sled dogs during the frozen months to travel over 3000 miles.

Why are they doing this? “To promote preserving the area from the effects of sulfide-ore copper mining.”

We first met Amy when she worked at a Gunflint Trail canoe outfitter years ago. She and her husband split their time between Ely and Grand Marais when they aren’t out on an adventure. We wish them the best on their newest pursuit.

Some people say it isn’t that hot here because it isn’t that humid. Others say it’s much hotter where they are from. I say, “It’s hot for here.”

People who live near the biggest air conditioner(Lake Superior) don’t feel “hot” very often. A nice day in Grand Marais, Minnesota is when the sun is shining and it’s 60 degrees. At the end of the Gunflint Trail it can get hot but we usually don’t have a prolonged heat wave. And up here, a heat wave is happening now.

We had over 80 degree temperatures on seven of the past ten days. Yesterday the temperature soared up to 92 degrees. I have a bad memory but I can’t remember the last time we had temperatures this hot for this long.

It is supposed to be in the 90′s again today. Thank goodness I have a river to cool off in throughout the day because I can’t handle the heat.

We’re hoping for some rain tomorrow to cool things off and give the blueberries a drink. The forecast calls for more “hot” weather throughout the weekend.

And while temperatures may not feel hot to you, they certainly do to this Gunflint gal.

Visitors of Voyageur Canoe Outfitters are able to take advantage of our awesome location on the very edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Every day something amazing and awe inspiring happens and if you’re lucky and looking then you get to see it.

Last week one of our tow boat drivers was coming back to our dock and he saw a mother moose and her calf swimming across the river. He used his radio to tell us about it and others were able to go out onto the dock and enjoy it.

Anna and Joe were out fishing on Gull Lake Friday afternoon. A loon was swimming with her newborn chick on her back when suddenly an eagle swooped in and stole her chick. Feathers flew, loons cried and within seconds the chick and eagle were gone.

Josh and I took a quick fishing break yesterday. We heard a noise in the woods and pretty soon a small black bear came out to the water’s edge. It ripped apart a log, sat in the water and when it finally noticed us retreated back into the woods.

We caught some smallmouth bass and as Josh was reeling in a small one a northern pike attacked it. The little bass got away but we netted the 30″ northern pike and then released it.

Yes, there are cool things happening near Voyageur all of the time. We invite you to come see for yourself.

People are out and about on the Gunflint Trail. There are vehicles parked along side of the road at some of the well-known blueberry picking spots. We’ve seen people with bug nets and ice cream buckets crouched down in the weeds. Are the blueberries ready?

In my expert opinion, maybe. If they are ready to be picked then this year won’t be one of the better years for picking. I think the pickers have jumped the gun because I’m seeing more green berries than blue ones and that equals difficult/time consuming picking. I much prefer picking when all of the berries are ripe and ready to be picked.

Maybe this is the only time those blueberry pickers have to pick. It is better than nothing and if you don’t mind moving, squatting, reaching, standing, moving, squatting, reaching, standing and finding small or green berries in your bucket then the berry picking is fine.

I would like to say, “You won’t find me out picking yet.” but that would be a lie. I have been out looking for berries and I have picked some too. But I have spent more time driving and wandering around than I have actually picking but that’s ok too. With the hot weather in the forecast I urge everyone to bring along plenty of water, take time to get out of the sun and don’t wander too far from the road.

We had the pleasure of meeting two adventurers at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters on Tuesday. Nick Canney and paddling partner Mujo Catic started their canoe trip on May 1st at the Stuart River Portage. They plan to camp and canoe in the BWCA until mid-October.

They will have spent over five months canoeing by the time they are finished with their trip. What an excellent adventure. So far they have paddled 150 miles and they haven’t seen a moose yet. They have caught fish and on the opener they caught a 22″ northern pike. As they were reeling it in a larger(around 11 pounds) northern pike grabbed it. They were able to get both fish into the canoe and were quite excited about it.

Nick Canney and Mujo Catic love the outdoors and they hope their trip sparks the interest of other young people so they too will venture into the Boundary Waters. We hope they inspire others to paddle the BWCA and continue to have a wonderful journey.

Nick Canney and Mujo Caticimage on their way from Saganaga to Seagull Lake

A guest of ours put together a nice video of his group in the Boundary Waters. I love to see people’s videos and photos of their time spent in the canoe country wilderness. I also love to share these items with my blog readers so if you have some to share then please email them to me, I’d appreciate it.

There are a few cuss words in the middle of the video but I still give it a 5 star rating. Thanks for sharing Len! Video Courtesy of Len Brewer of Killshots, a company that specializes in creating graphics for hunting and fishing websites.

Do you consider a camping chair in the Boundary Waters a necessity or a luxury? For me it depends upon the type of trip I am taking and how much portaging I’ll be doing. When we plan to set up a base camp it’s nice to bring along a lightweight camp chair.

Now days there are a large variety of camp chairs to choose from. When we started outfitting canoe trips into the BWCA over 20 years ago the two options were the big sling type camp chairs by Coleman or a Crazy Creek chair. While the big chairs are comfortable they are far from lightweight and Crazy Creek chairs are nice but they don’t get you off of the ground.

The ground is great when it’s dry, level and insect free. Many campsites have logs to sit on, nice rocks to stretch out on and comfortable places to sit. However it’s nice to have a chair that gets you off of the ground and away from biting ants, crawling insects and a wet bottom.

I have two camp chairs I really like, one is the Alite Monarch Butterfly and the other a Big Agnes Helinox. The Helinox Camp One Chair is the most comfortable but weighs 2 pounds while the Alite only weighs a little over 1 pound. The Alite is about $30 less expensive at $69 and the Helinox at $99.

Other companies make camp chairs including Therm-a-Rest, Alps Mountaineering and of course Coleman. Do you have a favorite camping chair? Is it a necessity in the BWCA or a luxury? Let me know.